National News

Cape Town, South Africa- Mike Zietsman won the Downhill Skateboarding class of the Fair Cape Downhill Challenge held March 15-16 in Cape Town. In Street Luge it was 2004 IGSA World Champion Leander Lacy who was victorious. It was the first race of the year in South Africa organized by the South African Gravity Racing Association (SAGRA) and sanctioned by the IGSA as a National level event.

The theme of the weekend was speed! On Saturday the famous Summer SE winds began to blow down Fair Cape Hill. The perfect tailwind resulted in premium conditions making the qualifying speeds super fast. The wind lowered the skater’s times anywhere from 2 to 10 seconds over 1.9 km course! In Downhill Skateboarding speeds were being pushed to 95-100kph. In Street Luge speeds were in the 110kph range!

In Downhill Skateboard qualifying Mike Zietsman came out on top followed by the surprising performance of young gun Glen Phillips that left some of the veterans scratching their heads. Anton Pratt finished in third.

Street Luge qualifying saw Russel Naude earning the number one position. Waldo Swiegelaar was second and Boris de Bel qualified in third. Lacey missed qualifying on Saturday due to work commitments so he would start from the back of the pack on Sunday. Russel Naude also earned the number one qualifying position in Classic Luge.

Sunday’s Downhill Skateboarding Finals had Anton Pratt taking an early lead. Zietsman kept nice and snug inside Pratt’s draft until the final right hander where he made his move. Zietsman just held on down the final straight to win by about 2 inches!

In Street Luge Lacey earned the victory followed by Naude in second. Waldo Swieglaar earned the final spot on the podium in third. Classic Luge was the reverse of Luge with Naude earning the victory and Lacey in Second. Swieglaar was once again in third.

The event received some excellent media coverage from national radio, morning and evening daily newspapers, and a TV crew from MNet Supersport that covered the event for broadcast in April. MNet covers South Africa, most of the remainder of Africa and parts of the Middle and Far East as well!

It turned out to be an excellent weekend with some very tight racing!! Special thanks go out to Sector 9 for donating four complete longboards as prizes and Mitsubishi who donated a truck to pull the trailer. There was a great vibe on the course and everyone was super stoked to be racing again.